Page 1 of 2 1 2 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 26

Thread: Advice On Budget nForce2 M/B's.....

  1. #1
    Member diesel604's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    109

    Advice On Budget nForce2 M/B's.....

    I've been in agony trying to pick a decent nForce2 budget board.
    Planning to run 1 stick of PC3200 DDR and a 1700JIUHB or 2100AIUHB.

    So far it's come down to these boards (local availability + price)

    Soltek Nv400-L64 (nForce2 400) $118 CAD
    Asus A7N8X-X (nForce2 400) $123 CAD
    Soltek 75FRN2-L (nForce2 Ultra 400) $120 CAD
    MSI K7N2 Delta L (nForce2 Ultra 400) $120 CAD


    What I'm looking for is a board that'll hit 200FSB. I know it is the exception. But it looks like these boards have been hitting 200FSB most of the time.

    I'm interested in the single chan. boards coz it seems that the dual chan. performance isn't that much more (more evident on P4's) I saw that the A7N8X-X Vcore only goes as high as 1.75V?

    Anyways any advice/reviews/experience with these boards is greatly appreciated.
    Athlon XP Barton 2500+ @ 2.2Ghz | Air Cooled | Sapphire Radeon 9550 SE 128Mb | Soltek nV400-L64 | 512Mb Infineon PC3200 DDR |

    http://www3.telus.net/diesel604/diesel604/Tbred-A%20badge.bmp

  2. #2
    Ultimate Member Rob R.'s Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Location
    Denver
    Posts
    1,081
    nForce2 is meant to be ran in dual channel mode so get two sticks of PC3200 or get another chipset like KT400a.

    Looks to me like all of your choices will run in dual channel mode at 400FSB by design.

    I have the MSI board but it's of the non-delta 333FSB variety and I love it. Pair your delta up with an XP2500 Barton and some nice memory and you will be a happy camper.

    The Asus ofcourse would be another good choice and I wouldn't be a Sysopt member if I didn't say that the Epox is worth a look as well.

  3. #3
    Ultimate Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Posts
    18,631
    How much would the Epox 8rda+ cost you up there? Its relatively cheap in terms of the nforce 2 pricing field and will deliver very good overclocks, most will hit 200Mhz FSB (toi be sure get a v2.0 revision) and all will do (i think its about) 2.2vcore maximum.

    Also has excellent quality Soundstorm onboard Audio, onboard LAN and onboard USB2, Firewire and gameport. I use one and its the mutts nutts, and the nforce 2 of choice IMO nuff sed.


    NB i think i saw one at newegg.com not so long back for 85 USD, i ran that through a currency convertor and that gave me 118 Canadian dollars

    --Jakk

  4. #4
    Member Cee-W's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Posts
    73
    diesel604,

    Get the Soltek SL NV400-L64. I have had this board for over a month now. To put it simply, it is a great board. No problems at all setting it up. Smooth as butter. This is a single channel board and it is just 2% behind its dual channel big brother (Soltek 75FRN2-L (nForce2 Ultra 400) ). I am running @ 208 x 10 . Rock solid, 24/7 . I got it from newegg for $76.00 shipped. The best money I have every spent on a motherboard. My specs:

    XP-1700+(DUT3C/JIUHB 0302)@XP-2600+(208x10)
    Soltek SL - NV400 - L64 * MB
    AOC-CUD-715 H/S-Type 44 compound
    Maxtor D740X-6L040L2 ATA/133
    Ultrplex40max SCSI-CD
    Yamaha 4X6 SCSI-CD-R
    GeForce4 Ti4200
    Achieve- 500w PS
    512mb PC-3200
    Win-98SE/WinXP-pro sp1

  5. #5
    Member diesel604's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    109
    Thanks for the input folks.

    Rob. R:

    to me it seems that to run NF2 dual means picking/searching for good RAM which I don't want to have to do. I hate to have to return stuff that doesn't work 1st time around. The dual chan seems to be picky about memory for most boards.

    Bigjakk:

    lol knew you'd mention the 8RDA+ Its about $30 more than the above mentioned models. I know $30 isn't that much more but it seems like a mixed bag of reviews (to me at least) about the Epox board. If you can outline the solid points about it I might just shell out for it (might) I like the Sound Storm and the tons of BIOS options it offers...convince me more!

    Cee-W:

    That's good to hear...what kind of ram are you running on it? Does the board have the option to set memory to a % of FSB (confirmation)

    Looks like a good board so far. Seems to like generic ram as well, as I have been reading.

    Unless BigJakk absolutely bowls me over with a reason to get the 8RDA+ (which mobo rev?)

    Keep the info coming (I greatly appreciate it)

    EDIT: now I remember what I was going to spend the $30 on....a Barton 2500+ AQXDA...'stead of the 1800+ JIUHB...it was all a matter of balancing where I wanted to spend money on the components (budget)
    Last edited by diesel604; 08-07-2003 at 10:49 PM.
    Athlon XP Barton 2500+ @ 2.2Ghz | Air Cooled | Sapphire Radeon 9550 SE 128Mb | Soltek nV400-L64 | 512Mb Infineon PC3200 DDR |

    http://www3.telus.net/diesel604/diesel604/Tbred-A%20badge.bmp

  6. #6
    Ultimate Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2001
    Location
    San Diego, CA
    Posts
    3,723
    I'd also go for the EPoX boards... I haven't really heard anything bad about them, I have one and its great... The most problamitic nForce2 boards seem to be the ASUS ones actually.

  7. #7
    Member diesel604's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    109
    RamonGTP, BigJakk

    How is the 8RDA+ for RAM? Is it picky with dual chan confg or single chan config? That's probably one thing I'm concerned about
    Athlon XP Barton 2500+ @ 2.2Ghz | Air Cooled | Sapphire Radeon 9550 SE 128Mb | Soltek nV400-L64 | 512Mb Infineon PC3200 DDR |

    http://www3.telus.net/diesel604/diesel604/Tbred-A%20badge.bmp

  8. #8
    Member Cee-W's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Posts
    73
    Cee-W:That's good to hear...what kind of ram are you running on it? Does the board have the option to set memory to a % of FSB (confirmation)
    Generic PC-3200 @ 6-3-3-2.5 - "expert mode" setting, 3111/2817
    There is no % of FSB option.

  9. #9
    Member diesel604's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    109
    Cee-W, really no way to run the memory slower than FSB?

    I checked the NV400 manual....under the Advanced Chipset Features

    http://www.soltek.com.tw/downloads/m...0-l64-BIOS.pdf

    Section 4.64 (pg 15) it says you can set it to:

    1. by SPD
    2. Auto
    3. 50 - 200% (Sys Performance Set to Expert)

    Can you confirm this?
    Athlon XP Barton 2500+ @ 2.2Ghz | Air Cooled | Sapphire Radeon 9550 SE 128Mb | Soltek nV400-L64 | 512Mb Infineon PC3200 DDR |

    http://www3.telus.net/diesel604/diesel604/Tbred-A%20badge.bmp

  10. #10
    Member Cee-W's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Posts
    73
    Quote--

    Cee-W, really no way to run the memory slower than FSB?

    I checked the NV400 manual....under the Advanced Chipset Features

    http://www.soltek.com.tw/downloads/...00-l64-BIOS.pdf

    Section 4.64 (pg 15) it says you can set it to:

    1. by SPD
    2. Auto
    3. 50 - 200% (Sys Performance Set to Expert)

    Can you confirm this?

    My Bad, You can do this by selecting the "System Performance" setting- Optimal. It only allows access in this mode.

    FYI, "Expert mode" is where you get the most out of this board. Any other mode will not be as fast no matter what you setting are. All other modes give you some pre define setting by default that you can't change.
    Last edited by Cee-W; 08-08-2003 at 08:10 AM.

  11. #11
    Member diesel604's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    109
    Cee-W,

    Nice! Not bad for a budget board

    I think I'll pick it up tomorrow (gotta convince the wifey!) she'll inherit the current system MSI KT3 Ultra 2 which has served me quite well!
    Athlon XP Barton 2500+ @ 2.2Ghz | Air Cooled | Sapphire Radeon 9550 SE 128Mb | Soltek nV400-L64 | 512Mb Infineon PC3200 DDR |

    http://www3.telus.net/diesel604/diesel604/Tbred-A%20badge.bmp

  12. #12
    Ultimate Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Posts
    18,631
    lol knew you'd mention the 8RDA+ Its about $30 more than the above mentioned models. I know $30 isn't that much more but it seems like a mixed bag of reviews (to me at least) about the Epox board. If you can outline the solid points about it I might just shell out for it (might) I like the Sound Storm and the tons of BIOS options it offers...convince me more!
    Fantastic onboard options, possibly the fastest nforce 2 based board out there and overclocks like nobodys business (250Mhz FSB anyone?), nuff said. (try anf get a v2.0 revision though)

    Also seems to be a very easy board to set up in comparison, very few people post with problems in contrast to say the Asus a7n8x Deluxe.

    Put shortly the 8rda+ is one of (nay, THE) premier nforce 2 board and priced cheaply in contrast with other boards of its ability.

    One would have to be a loon (or need SATA) not to buy one

    As for negative reviews, you sure you arent reading up on the Epox 8rda3+...now that thing stinks alright, but its an entirely different cup of tea to the 8rda+

    --Jakk

  13. #13
    Member diesel604's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    109
    Darnit....that other soltek board is making choices difficult

    Can get:

    Soltek 75FRN2-L for $114 CAD
    Soltek NV400-L64 for $118 CAD
    Asus A7N8X-X for $118 CAD

    That dual chan board is awefully tempting....hard to justify spending extra $4 LOL. Maybe wait until end of October...see where prices go...s'not big enough of a difference between the Nforce2 Ultra 400 and the Nforce2 400

    *rolls dice*
    Athlon XP Barton 2500+ @ 2.2Ghz | Air Cooled | Sapphire Radeon 9550 SE 128Mb | Soltek nV400-L64 | 512Mb Infineon PC3200 DDR |

    http://www3.telus.net/diesel604/diesel604/Tbred-A%20badge.bmp

  14. #14
    Member diesel604's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    109
    UPDATE!

    Alright I just picked up these today:

    1 x Soltek Nv400-L64
    1 x AMD 2500+ (AQXEA)
    1 x 512Mb PC3200 Infineon


    = 1 happy [D]iesel

    Uh..wifey might be mad though!

    Haven't had time to put it all together yet... but will keep ya posted!
    Athlon XP Barton 2500+ @ 2.2Ghz | Air Cooled | Sapphire Radeon 9550 SE 128Mb | Soltek nV400-L64 | 512Mb Infineon PC3200 DDR |

    http://www3.telus.net/diesel604/diesel604/Tbred-A%20badge.bmp

  15. #15
    Member Cee-W's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Posts
    73
    10-4 .

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •